A dangerous international trade

Counterfeiting is considered to be a criminal activity, which allows for financing dangerous organizations such as banditry, mafia networks and even certain terrorist groups. It is a worldwide problem and all states need to combat this illegal phenomenon.

Many counterfeit products are produced in South-East Asia (China, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea…), around the Mediterranean (Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey…), Russia, and even in the European Union (Spain, Poland, Italy…). Counterfeit products are distributed through networks in the different countries. However, a new distribution channel has evolved in the last years: the Internet.

The Internet allows for an easy, fast and nearly entirely anonymous access for these counterfeit networks. Web users worldwide can access counterfeit “online shops” (specialized websites, auction sites, blogs, forums…) in just a few seconds. On behalf of its clients, LegitiName actively fights against these kinds of networks by providing illicit content monitoring solutions and by detecting fraudulent use of brand’s images.

Counterfeiting is a phenomenon that strikes all consumption areas: clothing, leather products, jewelry and watches, perfumes… But illegal copies of games, music pieces and movies, and counterfeit mobile phone equipment (cases, batteries etc) are also booming, as are counterfeit automotive spare parts (filters, motor parts etc). Last but not least we need to name the household sector: household electronics (household appliances, radios…), food and drinks, fabrics, toys, cosmetics, pens, razors and so on. As counterfeit items do not comply with safety standards they can present a real danger to consumers.

Some key figures on the counterfeit jewelry and watch market
- In 2007, customs officers confiscated 1.8 million counterfeit watches and jewelry.
- According to Swiss watchmakers, 40 million counterfeit watches are produced every year, resulting in damages of 535 million Euros.
- The watch brands most concerned by this: Omega, Audemars Piguet, CK, Bulgari, Tag Heuer, Breitling, Rolex, Gucci, Swatch, Franck Muller.
- 52.21% of seized watches and jewelry come from China, 36.15% from Italy.

Sources:
contrefacon-danger.com
Bilan spécial Montres

Image source:
Google Images

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Position squatting

Cobrason vs. Google, Home Ciné Solutions

The lawsuit sparked a number of reactions regarding the estimation of economic damage caused.

Here are the facts: In 2005, Home Ciné Solutions placed a bid for advertising in Google AdWords using the keyword “Cobrason.” Soon after, Cobrason accused both the search engine and the Hi-Fi electronics maker of unfair business practices and estimated its financial loss due to the unfair business practices at around €50,000. This figure was calculated based on the number of Internet users who clicked on (and made a purchase at) the Home Ciné Solutions website as well as the average order price. The average Cobrason customer spent €700 on a purchase (this figure has been confirmed by the company’s auditor).

The French Commercial Court asserts that Home Ciné Solutions’ behavior caused potential customers to be misdirected to a competitor’s website, and that it was an abuse of Cobrason’s investment. The accused companies have been ordered to pay Cobrason €50,000 in estimated losses.

Google commits the same offense

This is likely not the last squatting lawsuit that Google will lose, as similar cases have already taken place across the world for brands such as Bourse de Vols, Citadines, Louis Vuitton, etc.

Sources:
Actu.abondance.com
domainesinfo.fr
sam-mag.com
legalis.net
Le petit Musée des Marques

Image source: Flickr

Adapted by: Jessica Hartstein

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The NIC México (Network Information Center México) register, in charge of administering the .MX (ccTLD / country code Top Level Domain) codes, is looking to develop its extension.

Registration will open in March 2009. It will be divided into stages (called Sunrise) and will first give preference to domain name owners in one of the five Mexican sub-extensions (.COM.MX, .GOB.MX, .EDU.MX, .ORG.MX, and .NET.MX). This month, the NIC MX has unveiled the different domain name registration stages.

- March 01 to July 31, 2009: owners of domain names in the five sub-extensions (.COM.MX, .NET.MX, .ORG.MX, .EDU.MX, .GOB.MX) can register their sites with the .MX extension. The new domain names will be registered under exactly the same name as the previous domain names. If there are more than one domain name applicant with the same domain name, the one with proof of having the name for longer will be granted the .MX domain name of the same name.

- August 1 to August 31, 2009: during the transition period, the register will analyze the requests received for domain name registration.

- September 1 to October 31, 2009: the .MX domain names will be open to everyone (general registration period) on a “first come, first served” basis.

In June of 2008, all the .MX domains together were ranked 34 out of 71 in terms of the number of domain name registrations per extension. In that month, there were 255,329 new registrations, in other words a 6% increase. We can only imagine how many businesses and organizations will be running to register a new domain name in order to promote and protect their activities and brands in Mexico.

Just as .COM has its UDRP procedure, the .MX has its LDRP procedure, which is responsible for settling domain name disputes and recovering problematic domain names. However, it’s better to favor pro-activity and to avoid losing money, time, energy, and brand awareness with a cybersquatting case that is very rarely easy to resolve.

Sources:
nic.mx
nic.mx
domainesinfos.fr

Image source:
nic.mx

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Sales terms and conditions

Believe me, I wouldn’t offer that piece of advice if it weren’t necessary—there have been cases of terms and conditions plagiarism. Case in point: Kalypso, a French website that specializes in selling children’s clothing, was found guilty of copying the sales terms and conditions of its competitor vente-privée.com and pasting them onto its website. This plagiarism eventually won the online shopping site a trip to court, resulting in a €10,000 fine and a penalty issued by the Paris Court of Appeals on September 24, 2008. It seems that these days similar stories of Internet wrongdoing are becoming all too familiar.

Obligations linked to online sales terms and conditions

Online shopping websites are required by law to provide their sales terms and conditions. This requirement protects both the company and the shopper. The sales terms and conditions for consumer-oriented e-commerce websites must include clauses on: rules and regulations, price listings, product descriptions, shipping costs (usually indicated within the product description file), as well as the delivery timeline and the cancellation and return policies.

In order to be as transparent as possible with online shoppers, it is also recommended that the terms and conditions include an explanation of how personal information will be treated and the date and version of the current terms and conditions.

One last reminder (even if you think it goes without saying): if you’d like to avoid being accused of damaging the reputation of a competitor, never publish their sales terms and conditions as your own. It’s the Golden Rule of sorts for online sales terms and conditions.

Sources:
legalis.net
zataz.com
journaldunet.com

Image source:
Google Images

Adapted by: Jessica Hartstein

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A quick explanation of.tel

Up until now, the purpose of domain names had been to designate Internet-connected computers (hosts) in order to access content (resources) such as websites, FTP files, e-mail, etc. In this context, the extension helped categorize the type of available content: .com for commercial websites, .mobi for mobile-phone adapted content, .co.uk for UK websites, .co.jp for Japanese websites, .org for all kinds of organizations, etc.

The .tel extension is not designed for a website, an FTP server, or an inbox, but rather is designed to provide personal or business contact information: telephone and fax numbers, instant messaging screen names, mail addresses, VoIP, geographical location, etc. In other words, your .tel page is meant to be a virtual business card.

How does .tel work?

In the case of other extensions, the role of the DNS servers was limited to associating a domain name to a host, as determined by the type of service requested (A, MX, NS records, etc.).

However, a lot of other information can be integrated into a DNS zone, such as a simple text (TXT), geographical information (LOC), etc.

The .tel extension is intended to exploit these DNS possibilities in order to use the zones as a resource holder instead of as a resource pointer. Names, addresses, and telephone numbers will be directly held in the zone rather than inside a designated computer in the zone. In order to do this, .tel uses NAPTR records, as in the example below:

This translates into:

What’s the advantage? This solution means you can have an online presence without all the start-up and maintenance pain of a website. You can also access the information without even needing an Internet navigator. This solution allows for instant and fast updates and searches.

Are there risks related to the .tel extension?

Just like everything else, .tel cannot escape all risks:

Non use by market actors: we remember that WAP was introduced as the future of mobile Internet access, but that obviously hasn’t been the case. Invented a decade ago .tel might not attract the same attention as back then. At a time of social networks and web 2.0, .tel might never catch on with the general public.

A spammer’s dream come true: publishing standardized contact details, which are additionally connected to geographical information, is certainly an unexpected goldmine that spammers won’t hesitate to take advantage of. However, the creators of the .tel extension promise that one can choose which details to provide to the public and which ones to make keyword protected. However, a password protected virtual business card seems to go against the main goal of the initiative.

Who is .tel open to and when?

.tel is open to anyone and everyone: companies, individuals, organizations, etc. However, in an attempt to avoid cyber squatting, a special “sunrise” period has been established in order to give brands a head start in registering a .tel domain name.

- Through February 2nd (sorry if you’ve missed it): “Sunrise” period: registration possible for brands only

- February 3rd to March 22nd (GMT): “Landrush” period: registration available to anyone, but at a higher price

- Starting March 23rd (GMT): “General availability” registration is available at the normal price to the public (price depending on the registrar and comparable to a normal domain name)

Image Source: telnic

Adapted by: Jessica Hartstein

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Google’s newest innovative initiative allows the creation and broadcast of TV ads: Google TV Ads.

There is one requirement the advertiser must respect: in order to access Google TV Ads, an advertiser must have a Google AdWords account. With Google TV Ads, the advertiser can create a commercial step-by-step and can even ask for help from qualified ad creation specialists. Statistics are provided for each and every advertisement in order to facilitate campaign and ROI management.

Google TV Ads – How does it work?

•    The advertiser defines the target audience (interests, age, sex, etc.)
•    The advertiser chooses which station to advertise on, how often, and at what times.
•    The advertiser uploads the ad or creates the ad by using the editing tools made available by the Ad Creation Marketplace. Additionally, the advertiser may simply choose to ask a Google TV Ads professional to produce the ad.
•    The advertiser decides how long the ad will be, the budget he’s willing to allocate to the ad, and its maximum bid (the minimum bid for a 30 second ad is $1). At this point, Google estimates the number of expected broadcasts and the total cost.
•    Once the campaign has been created and defined, Google TV Ads offers different options: the number of TV viewers, billing, costs, etc.

Google TV Ads – Why use them?

•    Create a TV ad campaign on a lower budget
•    Get a dynamic and well-adapted message out
•    Establish a synergy between your Internet and TV communication strategies
•    Profit from profile studies and audience analyses

Some additional information:

Google TV Ads service is proposed in partnership with SpotMixer, a website specialized in creating and distributing advertising videos through an online platform. For the time being this Google TV Ads service is only available in the US. ShoppersChoice.com, Lenovo, Golden Gateway Financial, Buy.com, and E-Health were the first to use Google TV Ads.

“Google TV Ads has provided us with new methods of creative learning. We can run different forms of creative through the platform and look at dropoff rates in viewerships by spot, network or program…” – Brett Keller, CMO, Priceline.com – Online Media Daily.

Watch the following video to find out more:

Image source: Google TV Ads

Adapted by Jessica Hartstein

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Television vs. web

In November 2008, the website Wizzgo (an online video broadcasting site) shut down its online service and was ordered by the Paris regional court to pay €440,000 in damages to the French M6 and W9 TV stations. Why? For having copied, reproduced, and made programs from these two channels available online without the TV stations’ consent.

On the lookout for violators…

But this is just one example of many, as these reproductions can be of varying qualities (some being much more difficult to recognize than others). For example, it can be difficult to detect the illegal use of content on a website (texts, slogans, graphic and photographic montages).

For example, the French website pecheur.com (specialized in online fishing equipment sales) recently took a competitor to court after becoming the victim of unfair online reproduction. On December 1st, the competent regional court found the competitor website peche-direct.com guilty of copying content, sales prices, and sales details. Peche-direct.com was ordered to pay pecheur.com €10,000 for having exploited and benefited from pecheur.com’s know-how without its consent and without compensating pecheur.com for using its strategy.

In addition to being forced to pay damages, the court has ordered that both sites publish a release of the judgment in order to reinforce the reparative character and to reestablish the identity of the two sites and two companies in the eyes of consumers.

Sources:
zataz.com
legalis.net
journaldunet.com

Image source: Flickr

Adapted by: Jessica Hartstein

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On average, 80% of a website’s traffic is generated naturally (direct access, search engines, reference links, or e-mail links). The remaining 20% come from marketing campaigns (sponsored links, e-mail campaigns, advertising, and affiliation).

If we look more in detail, search engines (using natural links) generate a third of a website’s traffic, while sponsored links only account for 12.2% of their traffic.

Natural links created better results than sponsored links in terms of:

•    Rebound rate: a visitor who enters a site via a natural link is more likely to visit at least 2 pages (59% compared to 56% for sponsored links).

•    Page views per visit: the visits generated by natural links generate 8.3 page views vs. the 7.4 page views for visits generated by sponsored links.

In addition to generating more traffic, accessing a website via “natural” channels is also more effective when we consider qualitative aspects such as rebound rate and page views per visit. This matches up with the fact that the “natural link visitors” are different types of visitors than the “sponsored link visitors.” A “natural link visitor” can be viewed as a more “loyal” visitor, while a “sponsored link visitor” merely finds him/herself directed to a website that more or less responds to his/her needs.

Nonetheless, we must put these results in perspective because the success of a campaign is not measured by qualitative aspects but rather by its capacity to reach objectives (number of people registered for the newsletter, approved reservations, purchase confirmations, etc.) Currently, a Xiti Monitor study is analyzing the performance of sponsored links in terms of conversion (online purchases).

Source:
Xiti Monitor
Adapted by: Jessica Hartstein

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For website indexing, a search engine needs intrasite links in order to navigate from page to page. This is called crawling.
This stage is very tedious and demands a lot of resources from search engine crawlers.

Sitemap protocol was created in order to ensure that information could be updated faster. Sitemap protocol is a recognized standard for the 3 biggest search engines: Google, Yahoo!, and Live Search.

A sitemap is not the traditional map of a website that one finds at nearly all HTML format websites. The sitemap protocol for search engines is done in an XML file that lists all of a site’s URLs. A specific format must be respected.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">

   <url>
      <loc>http://www.example.com/</loc>
      <lastmod>2005-01-01</lastmod>
      <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
      <priority>0.8</priority>
   </url>

</urlset>

Here you can obtain more information about sitemap protocol.

A sitemap can be submitted in several ways. Some search engines allow submissions through a webmaster console, via a ping method or by inserting the following into your website robots.txt file:

sitemap:http://www.example.com/sitemap.xml

Recently, other sitemap models have been found on Google.

The video sitemap offers a series of optimization tools that help videos to show up in natural search engine results. For example, tools that allow webmasters to provide source information, insert a description, a title, a category, and keywords. In other words, one can provide information about all types of media in sitemaps.

Blog-created feeds can be registered as an RSS 2.0 or an Atom 1.0 sitemap.

With the intention of optimizing its web presence, geolocalization can also have a sitemap by providing URL file information in KLM or geoRSS format. As time goes on, geolocalization is finding its place in natural search engine results.

Search engines are constantly offering more tools and increasing their compatibility with different formats. Sitemaps are a good way to make them known and to optimize their presence in natural search engine results.

Source:
Google webmaster’s help

Image source:
MasterNewMedia

Adapted by: Jessica Hartstein

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What is copyright?

The sole right reserved for an author or his/her representative to reproduce, publish, or sell his/her literary, artistic, or scientific work during a specified number of years. You can often tell that a work is protected by copyright law thanks to the frequently used © symbol following the year of the first publication and the name of the holder of the copyright. The symbol  invokes rights against third parties and is recommended to discourage third parties from illegally using a work.

Are these rights the same around the world?

No. In the US there is a registry for all copyrighted works. In France, however, there is no real protection for a work. The established code is meant just to discourage and inform third parties. Keep in mind that the absence of a specific mention of copyright or the lack of the © symbol does not mean that a work is not protected.

Legal actions

As previously mentioned, there have been numerous copyright lawsuits over the years, each one different from the one before it. For example, Google has been sued because of its page indexing feature which directs web users to the websites of organizations, companies, and artworks and for the simple fact that it uses some or all of the content present on a website, even though it cites its sources with the aid of a hyperlink. This hasn’t just gotten Google into trouble; GateHouse Media has decided to sue The New York Times for what it believes to be a similar violation.

GateHouse vs. The New York Times

GateHouse Media, a group which has 125 local newspapers around the US has recently started legal proceedings against The New York Times Group which owns the Boston Globe website, Boston.com. GateHouse Media accuses The New York Times of having violated its copyright and brand rights by displaying links to articles published on GateHouse websites.

According to Chris Collins, a lawyer specialized in intellectual property rights at Vanderpool, Frostick & Nishanian, GateHouse might try to prove that its copyright was violated or demand that their prior permission be asked and a fee be paid before links to their sites can be posted.

This is a legal proceeding that you will want to follow closely because it is likely to affect not only The New York Times Group but also various other information websites. The GateHouse Media Group is very well protected against copyright violations and has all the necessary weapons to fight what it believes to be a violation by The New York Times. Its articles are protected by several laws in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which establishes intellectual property law for digital work. The law offers ways to fight violations, but is very controversial. In reality, groups that oppose the law call it a liberty killer, demanding that it be overturned, pure and simple.

Will copyright limitations be overturned?

The New York Times Group is not alone in publishing such links; it is a wide-spread practice among websites, blogs, and search engines. If the Manhattan federal court rules in favor of GateHouse Media, this will call into question many things in the world of the web. Better to be safe than sorry, right? So, the golden rule should be that you always have the author’s consent before using his/her work in part or in its entirety. Following this rule will save you from potential piracy lawsuits. This is a case to follow.

Source: Journal du net
Source image: wikimedia
Adapted by: Jessica Hartstein

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